myrmepropagandistAug 16, 2023

If the idea of violent protests don't make you at least little scared I wonder how well you know history. At the same time, real change almost never happens without people putting their bodies on the line.

The right understands this far better than your average liberal/moderate. To be a moderate is to trust that existing systems will (mostly) work.

If those systems fail? What then? To even consider this is moderate treason.

(Cartoons by Mattie Lubchansky https://thenib.com/author/mattie-lubchansky/ )

Mattie Lubchansky

Mattie Lubchansky is the Associate Editor of the Nib and a cartoonist and illustrator living in Queens, NY. Their work has appeared in New York Magazine, VICE, Eater, Mad Magazine, Gothamist, The Toast, The Hairpin, Brooklyn Magazine, and their long-running webcomic Please Listen to Me. They are the co-author of Dad Magazine (Quirk, 2016) and the author of the Antifa Supersoldier Cookbook (Silver Sprocket, 2021).

The Nib
Show threadArcana  Aug 16, 2023
@futurebird >1799

Louis XVI had been dead for 6 years by that point, and had effectively given up all power too a few years before that as he refused to deploy the army to fire on the French people.

The French Revolution was led by some of the richest people in France, many of whom would directly benefit from the kings demise. Whoever drew these images is a historically inept fool who shouldn’t be taken seriously.

If you’re going to contribute centuries old lies, misrepresentations, and propaganda, at least have the decency to get the year correct.
Show threadmyrmepropagandist

@Arcana

I think part of the joke is that's not how any of these events happened?

Aug 16, 2023 at 1:40pmWeb
Show threadChris RealAug 16, 2023

@futurebird @Arcana It's only "revolution" if it's after 1799, and includes the Reign of Terror

Otherwise, it's sparkling insurrection . . .

(This is a joke too😋)

Show threadDiegoAug 16, 2023
@_chris_real @futurebird @Arcana In 1799 the Reign of Terror was also half a decade in the past, France was ruled by an oligarchy soon to be overturned in a coup by Napoleon, who would later crown himself Emperor. Idk if there are simple lessons to be drawn here, ironic or otherwise.
Show threadDiegoAug 16, 2023

@_chris_real @futurebird @Arcana Tbh the French Revolution wasn't even that violent in the beginning in 1789-92. The King's authority broke down because he was bankrupt, and he had to share power in some way to regain legitimacy. The mass killings only started when all-out European war broke out, and the King turned out to be a traitor.

It's an interesting thought experiment to imagine what would've happened if France had managed to remain at peace for longer and stabilise...

Show threadChris RealAug 16, 2023

@DiegoBeghin @futurebird @Arcana I think you are missing the point.

- A bully will only leave you alone if they know you are willing and prepared to fight them.

- Naked power will only concede power when they have no choice about it.

In these tumultuous times without universally accepted truths, one must be prepared to defend one's convictions, on many levels—and simply hope that 'the good will out'.

Show threadDiegoAug 16, 2023
@_chris_real @futurebird @Arcana Nah, too abstract, I'd rather discuss specifics.
Show threadArcana  Aug 16, 2023
@futurebird yes, but that’s the thing. It’s joking about the king gleefully abdicating, and that’s basically true. The king did give up his power. For three years and they still decided to kill him, in part for financial and inheritance reasons.

The date is wrong and the history they portray sarcastically is actually close to the truth. It’s like the whole Storming of the Bastille being portrayed as some great liberation moment when it reality it was a place with about 7 prisoners, who weren’t there for political reasons, defended by about 80 disabled veterans, with the storming led by supporters of the richest man in France.

After the commander of the Bastille surrender and spare lives rather than holding out violently against the mob for a long time as they had the means to do, the mob bludgeoned him to death in the street.
Show threadArcana  Aug 16, 2023
@futurebird also funny that it mentions the Haitian Revolution in the previous image as the Royalists on Haiti were allied with the Africans in the uprising.

One of the charges brought against Louis XVI at his trial accusing him of being a traitor was that he was formenting counter revolution in the colonies
Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Aug 16, 2023
@futurebird @Arcana The joke is that the "liberal democracy" that started in 1799 was Napoleon Bonaparte's dictatorship.